Geography · Ch 4 — Primary Activities
Primitive Subsistence Agriculture
Primitive Subsistence Agriculture
Primitive Subsistence Agriculture
This is the oldest form of agriculture, still practised by many tribal communities across the tropics. The core idea is simple: a patch of forest is cleared, farmed for a few years, and then abandoned when the soil loses its fertility. The farmer then moves to a new patch, repeating the cycle.
The method is also called shifting cultivation because the farmer shifts from one plot to another. It is widespread in three main regions: Africa, South and Central America, and Southeast Asia.
How It Works
The process begins with clearing the vegetation. Farmers cut down trees and bushes, then burn them. The ash from the fire mixes with the soil and acts as a natural fertiliser, providing nutrients for the first few crops. This is why shifting cultivation is also known as slash and burn agriculture.
The cultivated patches are very small. Farmers use only the most basic tools — sticks and hoes — to till the land. There is no use of modern machinery, fertilisers, or irrigation.
The Cycle and Its Problem
A single patch is cultivated for a short period, typically 3 to 5 years. After this, the soil loses its fertility — the nutrients are used up by the crops and not replaced. The farmer then abandons that patch and clears a new one elsewhere in the forest. The old patch is left fallow (uncultivated) for many years, allowing the forest to regrow and the soil to recover naturally. The farmer may return to the original patch after a long time, once the land has regained its fertility.
The major problem with shifting cultivation is that the cycle of jhum (the local name for this practice in India) becomes shorter and shorter. As population grows and more land is needed, farmers return to a patch before it has fully recovered. This leads to a permanent loss of soil fertility across many parcels, making the land less productive over time.
Names Around the World
Shifting cultivation is known by different local names in different tropical regions. The textbook mentions these examples:
| Region | Local Name |
|--------|------------| …
The map is a simplified world outline, showing the continents and oceans with a latitude-longitude grid for orientation. Its single purpose is to highlight the tropical regions where primitive subsistence agriculture—specifically shifting cultivation—is practised.
The shaded areas are concentrated in three broad belts. The largest is across Africa, covering much of the tropical zone from West Africa through the Congo Basin into parts of East and Central Africa. The second belt lies in South and Central America, spanning the Amazon Basin, the Caribbean islands, and extending into Central America and southern Mexico. The third is in Southeast Asia, including the islands of Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, and parts of mainland Southeast Asia like Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, and Vietnam.
The map does not show any internal boundaries, cities, or specific tribe names. It uses a single grey shading to mark all these regions uniformly, because the practice—though called by different local names (Jhuming, Milpa, Ladang)—shares the same core method: clearing forest by fire, cultivating small plots with simple tools for a few years, then moving on as soil fertility declines. …